Always Having Five Minutes

As a manager, I have to adapt to my environment, so a lot of what I do can be adjusted to the context. However one thing I’ll always do for the people reporting to me is to have 5 minutes available for important topics. It’s straightforward, but I think it’s very valuable to build trust and prevent problems from getting out of hand.

Here’s how I usually frame it to my direct reports.

It’s important

• If you are reporting to me, I will always have 5 minutes for you, and I truly mean it.
• You should be able to rely on me when it’s important. I’m more than happy to have you disturb whatever I’m doing to reach that goal.
• I know my calendar is full and I look very busy. I still have 5 minutes for you. I won’t be mad.
• It also works if I’m not at the office… of course I’m counting on you to only do it if necessary.

How to do it

• If we’re in the office, just walk up to me! If we’re remote, send me an instant message. If I’m not responding fast enough, escalate to an SMS and if you still don’t have an answer then call me.
• Please give me a sense of scope and urgency, it helps me react accordingly and not stress unnecessarily. So avoid “do you have 5 minutes?” and prefer “Do you have 5 minutes to discuss XYZ before the end of the day? It’s urgent.”

What you’ll get

• At the very least, we’ll be able to quickly discuss your concern and figure out a next step.
• Sometimes it will literally be only 5 minutes in between meetings, maybe I’ll be outside on the phone… but I’ll still take the time and we’ll be able to assess what to do.

The one downside

• Because of this, I’ll never accept “you didn’t have time to discuss this urgent thing” as a reason for something going wrong. I will always have 5 minutes for you.

Usually people are a bit doubtful, especially in roles where I managed large teams, so I’ll repeat this rule every now and then until they use it. After years of having this in place, I can recall many examples where having this guideline helped individuals in my team.